Oh Lordy, I now own a Fordy (a Lincoln actually)..

[njsteve]

Yes, it was somewhat surface rusty but the steel was still very heavy gauge and solid. The Lincoln had a very unique double-walled flange that has a specific type of donut gasket. No one makes a replacement flange so we used the factory section. I had to buy five different "donuts" before I found the correct sized 2-5/32" inner diameter replacement. It's a Felpro #60218 in case anyone needs the part number.

I cleaned up the original hood hinges today. Soaked them in 5 gallons of "Purple Power" degreaser since last night. That took off the 47 years of accumulated gunk but left the original phosphate finish intact. I have them soaking in engine oil now. Hopefully tomorrow we can get the hood back on finally - with all the family participating. It's like moving a ping-pong table around.

[njsteve]

Got the hood back on. The hinges came out great from soaking and oiling.

Took her out for a drive to my buddy's garage and dismounted the 33 year-old Goodyear Eagle ST 225/70x15's that I put on in an emergency when the old tires went bad a couple months ago. (This set is actually the set of tires that the second owner of my '73 SD455 put on the car in 1985 when he blew up one of the Firestone 500's driving it from Arizona to California).

I had a set of recent 255/60x15 BFGs that were on an extra set of Honeycomb wheels in the garage. I dismounted them from the rims and mounted those on the Lincoln's steel wheels - blackwall side out - looks very sinister..

I then remounted the old Goodyear Eagle ST's on the original set of Honeycombs from the SD455, and stored the remaining Firestone 500's in the back of the garage. I know: it sounds like the automotive version of Three-Card-Monty.

Anyway, I will try to post some photos tomorrow when it is sunny out. It was raining all day today - and I spent most of the day scrubbing both sets of tires and making them presentable again.

I also spent a couple hours cleaning the garage of all the remnants of the engine build, finding my lost tools, and throwing out the cardboard boxes, empty paint cans, dirty rags, etc.

[njsteve]

Here she is in all her Titanical glory. I let my wife drive the the ship around the block. She was happy to attempt to steer it into port but drew the line at attempting to back it into the garage, which requires a 6 point turn to get it docked without the aid of a tugboat.

The engine runs great. It really pulls when the throttle is mashed down. I backed the timing off a degree or two, to the factory spec of 6 degrees BTDC. Once I get a couple of gallons of 100 octane AvGas in the tank, I can readjust it again. It purrs like a kitten. The loudest thing under the hood now, is that Ford power steering pump. It makes a rather annoying chugging sound.

[Crush]

Man that of been cool to have in HS!! Ha!
Looks great

[olredalert]

----Heavy weight muscle! love your attention to the details, Steve...….Bill S

[njsteve]

Thanks! Next project is the control arm bushings and ball joints. All the other suspension parts were replaced by the dealer 20 years (and 400 miles) ago.

Then maybe I will find some way to get some tunes in it. It has the original "Town and Country" AM radio. It's one of those signal seeker radios that mechanically tracks across the dial to find the most static-ey station and then locks onto its signal. It would be nice to find an AM/FM and then throw some speakers in the trunk. That 1000 square foot trunk would make an awesome echo chamber.